Concept and origins
Andersen and Bjørklund (1990) called welfare chauvinism the tendency of Progress Party supporters in Denmark and Norway to believe that welfare benefits should go only to 'our own'. This differs from neoliberal anti-welfare positions seeking to shrink the welfare state. Because it asks who deserves benefits rather than how large welfare should be, it is understood as a shift of distributive conflict toward cultural and ethnic boundaries.
Links to radical right parties
Kitschelt (1995) argued that in the 1990s the Western European radical right won support with a 'winning formula' combining market liberalism and authoritarianism, but later research noted that these parties increasingly moved toward welfare chauvinism to attract workers. Mudde (2007) summarized their core ideology as nativism, authoritarianism and populism; welfare chauvinism is nativism applied to economic policy. It also connects to debates on cultural backlash.
Measurement and supporters
Using European data, Reeskens and van Oorschot (2012) showed that general redistribution preferences and preferences for restricting immigrants' welfare access are distinct dimensions. De Koster, Achterberg and van der Waal (2013) found that welfare chauvinism predicts voting for new right parties in the Netherlands. Mewes and Mau (2013) reported that low socioeconomic status and globalization-related insecurity are associated with welfare chauvinist attitudes.
FAQ
- What is welfare chauvinism in simple terms?
- It is the view that welfare should be kept or expanded but given only to the country's own people, excluding immigrants.
- How does it differ from neoliberal welfare cuts?
- Neoliberalism seeks to shrink welfare itself, whereas welfare chauvinism keeps welfare but limits eligibility to natives.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Andersen, J. G., & Bjørklund, T. (1990). Structural changes and new cleavages: The Progress Parties in Denmark and Norway. Acta Sociologica, 33(3), 195–217. The origin of the term.
- Kitschelt, H. (1995). The radical right in Western Europe: A comparative analysis. University of Michigan Press. The radical right's winning formula.
- Mudde, C. (2007). Populist radical right parties in Europe. Cambridge University Press. Nativism and the radical right.
- Reeskens, T., & van Oorschot, W. (2012). Disentangling the 'New Liberal Dilemma': On the relation between general welfare redistribution preferences and welfare chauvinism. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 53(2), 120–139. Measuring welfare chauvinism.
- de Koster, W., Achterberg, P., & van der Waal, J. (2013). The new right and the welfare state: The electoral relevance of welfare chauvinism and welfare populism in the Netherlands. International Political Science Review, 34(1), 3–20. Electoral relevance.
- Mewes, J., & Mau, S. (2013). Globalization, socio-economic status and welfare chauvinism: European perspectives on attitudes toward the exclusion of immigrants. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 54(3), 228–245. Who supports it.
- Rodrik, D. (1998). Why do more open economies have bigger governments? Journal of Political Economy, 106(5), 997–1032. Openness and welfare.